Hit Me
by Nimbiose
Summary: The intricacies of the relationship between one Klaus Mikaelson and one Estefania Salvatore over the years. One-shot, second in the 'Blackjack' series.


**Hit Me**

**Disclaimer. **TVD is the property of the CW.  
**Rating. **PG-15  
**A/N.** hello again! i liked the female Salvatore sisters, and as much as i've hated this past season of TVD, i still like Domi and Stefani a lot, they're fun to write about. so here is another glimpse at that universe.  
**A/N 2.** currently in the process of posting my works to AO3! i still intend to post here first whenever i write something new, but AO3 let's me organize things like i want them to look.  
**A/N 3.** i'm not too terribly sure i like this, i strayed from my focus a couple of times, mostly to write Salvatore sisters because they're awesome but i might go back and add some scenes later on.

* * *

Estefania Salvatore had been a ripper for a handful of years, and a vampire for many more, when she first met Klaus Mikaelson. She did not know or care about who he was, unburdened by emotion as she was at the time. She only knew that he was fun and good looking and awesome at sex.

The perfect combination, if you asked her.

His sister Rebekah, she could have done without, overprotective harpy that she was. There was no love lost between Estefania and the blonde, despite Klaus' infatuation with the Ripper of Monterrey. Rebekah assured her several times that he would hurt her soon enough, like he always did.

Estefania, now Stefani, laughed uproariously through sharp teeth covered in blood, and said,

"But that's why I like him so much,"

(Years later, when these memories resurfaced, Stefani could only cringe at her lack of foresight.)

Disgusted, Rebekah crinkled her nose and left the younger vampire to her own, self-destructive devices. She instead concentrated on her current lover, who would no doubt be drained by the end of the week.

(Most likely by her infuriating brother.)

When Klaus dropped by later, all smooth swagger and charm, he sidled up to the beautiful brunette vampire who was currently in deep conversation with a stunning, raven-haired man. The man seemed slightly put-off by Klaus' sudden appearance, and Klaus was just as unimpressed with him, his jealousy obvious in the upturned angle of his mouth.

"Klaus! There you are! This is Brian – Brian, right? He was telling me _all_ about his poor grandmother who _just_ passed away…he really has no one to turn to anymore, and now he's all-alone in this lovely, big house on the outskirts of town, and I thought, who better to keep him company than us? After all, we wouldn't want anything to happen to him, now would we?"

Stefani's eyes danced mirthfully as they locked with Klaus', whose lips slowly turned to a boyish smile. He liked playing with his food just as much as she did, after all, neither one of their mothers had been present enough in their lives to teach them otherwise.

(At least that's what he told himself, since the truth was that he liked to indulge her even more, but that spoke of a certain weakness within him he was unwilling to admit to.)

"Of course not love, that would be awful…say, have you met my sister Rebekah? She should be somewhere around here, blonde, rather feisty, but she can be quite sweet and – oh, there she is! Rebekah, come meet, Brian was it? Come meet Brian, he's got quite a story to tell,"

(Brian died that night, caught between two bloodthirsty creatures that viciously tore at his throat and lapped at his blood until there was none left, before turning to each other in a lust-driven frenzy. Not that anyone would look or ask for Brian afterwards, or wonder at the new residents in that lovely, big house on the outskirts of town.)

**-o-**

(To this day, Stefani shudders in repulsion whenever she remembers what she used to be, what she could be again, and reminds herself to tamp down her bloody urges lest she become that again.)

**-o-**

When Stefani met Klaus again, several decades later, she had no memory of him or Rebekah. She knew that she had been a vicious killer, and would become one again if she drank human blood, but she knew nothing of the man that had shared in her debauchery and killing sprees. For a while, she thought that was for the best, and envied the time in which she had been ignorant of her own past.

Because once she made the deal to save her sisters life (and wasn't that always the case with them, the Salvatore sisters, who could hate and curse each other to the depths of Hell but would be the first to sacrifice themselves if it meant the other got to live), the veil was soon ripped off and all the memories came back. And with them came a newfound disgust at herself and the man before her, the man that encouraged her violent urges and cared only about himself.

Was it really any wonder that she eventually turned it all off when faced with this man?

(And while at first Klaus may have been ecstatic at the prospect of having the Stefani he knew back, he eventually regretted it, because although this Stefani had had no problems having a hate-fuelled lustful night, she was also currently existing with one goal in mind: to defeat him, as evidenced not only by the note she left scratched on the wall of their penthouse suite, but the figure of his sister with a cracked neck outside the door. Which was a blow not only to his ego as his plans were derailed because of her, but also a blow to his guarded heart, which against his better judgment cared greatly for the younger vampire.)

**-o-**

Stefani came back to Mystic Falls quietly one evening, and gave her sister the surprise of her life the next morning. It turned out Domi had been putting together a map of possible locations for Klaus to take Stefani to, reading and cutting news articles. She had even reluctantly accepted the help of the local teenage vampires, Caroline Forbes being a force to be reckoned with when she put her mind to something, organizing the entire map with strings of different colors and pictures attached.

(No one else could understand Caroline's organization and rules, but they all quietly heaved a sigh of relief that she was on their team, because while she may not have realized it yet, the older generations recognized a mastermind in the making when they saw one, and they shuddered to think of what would befall Caroline's enemies should she ever turn her skills on them.)

Stefani found it all excessively diverting in her emotionless state, and said as much. Domi narrowed her eyes at her, suspicious, but didn't put the pieces together until Alaric Saltzman came down the stairs in naught but his underwear and Stefani deliberately licked her lips before asking whether Domi would drain him soon, because if not she would.

Both Alaric and Domi stared at her, before Domi shifted protectively in front the hunter and looked her sister in the eyes.

Stefani didn't blink, merely stared back, at least until the pulse of warm human blood led her gaze to Alaric's jugular.

"Shit," Domi said.

**-o-**

Stefani drains a couple of locals, none of the important ones, but everyone is horrified that their groups level-headed, experienced vampire is now a bloody killer. Elena tries talking sense to her a couple of times, but Stefani's attempts at chomping down on her neck put a quick stop to that.

Unfortunately, it also lands her in the Boarding House basement cells. But that's alright, Stefani has always been the more patient sister, and it won't be long before Klaus comes back and they need her. So she waits, living off of whatever blood they see fit to give her, until one day she hears Matt and Jeremy discussing Klaus' return to town.

When they enter, she snaps Matt's neck and drinks some of Jeremy's blood before either of them can blink.

**-o-**

She finds Caroline, because Stefani recognizes talent when she sees it.

(After all, what is one original hybrid when someone was been the reigning social queen of her town since birth. Even Rebekah, newly arrived in town with her brother and intent on causing havoc, is having problems dealing with the pageant queen.)

She enlists Caroline as her strategist on her personal war against Klaus. Together they are then contacted by Katherine, who offers them information on the one man Klaus has ever feared, the man that always made him run: Mikael.

**-o-**

The plan is going perfectly, even if several important parties are unaware of it, all the puppets dancing to her strings, when Stefani learns an important truth: if Klaus dies, Domi dies as well.

This is relayed to her by Elena, to whom Caroline had revealed the plan, because Caroline's genius is still impeded by those pesky things called emotions, which Stefani thought she herself had gotten rid off.

But perhaps not, because the thought of her sister dying makes her choke on air and before she knows it, she's stopping Domi from killing Klaus after the man has killed his father. This is, incidentally, the first moment she has seen Klaus since she left his room in Chicago, threatening phone calls notwithstanding.

(And of course, what he sees is her saving him and his eyes widen momentarily, before both sisters are out of his sight as Stefani speeds them away to explain.)

**-o-**

The next time Stefani and Klaus meet, it is over a dinner which, if all goes well, will result in Klaus' death at the hands of his siblings.

(Stefani had stopped listening to Elijah's plan about halfway through, partly because now that she knew the final outcome she didn't care much for the details since it seemed they would be out of her hands, and partly because she was too distracted by the bedroom eyes Elijah kept giving her sister which Domi was having a hard time pretending to ignore. Stefani snorted. Her life was already enough of a soap opera, it didn't need more love triangles.)

Everything is going to plan, and Klaus smug grin will soon be off his face and in a coffin, and that is all Stefani can bring herself to care about as he and Elijah talk about the original doppelgänger. She does not feel jealousy or anger at the woman who shares Elena's face, because – and this is important – she does not feel emotions, brief moments of her caring for her sister don't count.

Of course, this little mantra is gone as soon as Stefani is confronted by the reality of Klaus disappearing from the face of the earth. In a stupid, emotion-driven move she puts herself between the undaggered Mikaelson siblings and Klaus, ignoring Domi's warning and Klaus' pleas for her to "get out of the way, love, you'll only succeed in getting yourself killed".

The standoff comes to an end when Klaus' mother steps in, takes one look at the scene before her and promptly ushers both Salvatore sisters out.

(When they reach the Boarding House, Stefani is still shuddering as she experiences all the emotions she's been shutting out for months now. Domi sighs as she tucks her into her bed, before sprawling out beside her and warning her against snoring because she's had a shitty couple of days and deserves her beauty sleep. Stefani cracks a smile and a hoarse laugh through her tears. She has always loved her sister.)

**-o-**

Days later, they receive invitations to the Mikaelson ball. They both raise eyebrows at each other and Alaric does as well. Even worse, however, is the beautiful gown attached to Stefani's invitation. It is a beautiful crimson colour that would undoubtedly look magnificent with her hair, with black designs.

Stefani hates it. Stefani loves it. Stefani hates herself for loving it.

This goes back and forth of a few days until Domi tells her to "just wear the creepy Klaus-dress Stefi, we all know that his creepy obsession will ensure that it looks better than anything else you might find".

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the dress fits her like a glove.

(Stefani tells no one about the added card to her invitation, the one that thanked her extensively and beautifully for risking her life for his not once but twice, and relating that he would be honoured if she would save him a dance. She threw the card out once, before regretting it immediately and fishing through her trash for it. It is now in one of her many diaries.)

**-o-**

Stefani frowns when she finds out Alaric isn't accompanying her sister before leaving, but shrugs it off as not her business. Especially when it seems like a new plan is afoot against Klaus, and she no longer knows how she feels about participating in those.

Her musings are momentarily put on hold when Domi makes her aware of Rebekah's interest in Matt, and she is all set to put a stop to that because Rebekah might not be her brother but she is still a nightmare, when she suddenly finds herself in the arms of the last person she wants to see right now.

(Not when her emotions are still a mess and she is still unsure what this could all possibly mean for her.)

"What are you doing?" she asks him eventually, narrowing her eyes.

"Dancing with you, love," he replies with a grin as he twirls her.

"What's your endgame?" she grits out.

"Can't a man dance with a beautiful woman without being cross-examined anymore?" he chuckles, and Stefani keeps her mouth firmly shut so she doesn't have to endure any more compliments.

**-o-**

Predictably by now, whatever plan was in the works absolutely fails to make a dent and instead unites the original family even more.

Unpredictably, Alaric dies, and Stefani fulfills her sisterly duty of hugging her sister, who for once has broken down uncaring of who sees her, all to aware of the eyes on her back. She knows he is giving her a respite tonight, after all she has a sister to console and he is willing to give her time for it, but she also knows that soon he will want to see her.

(In her weakest moments, Stefani finds herself hoping some new problem arises and that conversation takes longer to occur.)

**-o-**

Elena becomes a vampire, and this ruins any possibility of a conversation between Stefani and Klaus as they once more find themselves on opposing teams as they race for the cure to vampirism.

At least until Elena and Jeremy kill Kol, and Stefani suddenly finds herself watching over a grieving Klaus while everyone else is at an island to find the cure.

(She is really starting to hate the word cure, and all its significance.)

"How can you side with them, when they have caused me what you are always striving to avoid?"

The words, hollow and hoarse, resonate through the room and bring Stefani out of her stupor. She looks up at him, and for the first time in a long time, really takes her time studying him.

Before her stands a man who, for all his smugness and power, has been constantly beaten and hurt by the world around him and by those he cares about. A man shrouded in loneliness, who knows no other way to live but to be alone, so much so that he perpetuates it himself, daggering his siblings, ensuring their disdain, because he does not know how else to exist. And yet. And yet here he stands before her, afraid for the first time to be truly alone and what it means, and speaking to her because despite the many layers he's built around his heart, it has always responded to her.

And she knows it, is all too aware of the influence she could easily have over this man, strongest of all, and is frightened as well. Because he is not the only who perpetuates his own loneliness. She does not know what to do with the possibility of truly committing herself and sharing her life with someone that will constantly be there and not abandon her only to later reappear.

So she stands, and heads over to him, unafraid. She reaches the barrier, and locks eyes with his, and neither breathes for some time, both expectantly awaiting her response.

"Because they reminded me what it was like to have a family, and because you know as well as I do that Elena will be a terrible vampire,"

That earns her a slight upward twitch of his lips, but she knows he is still as unimpressed with the people she surrounds herself with as ever. Instead, Stefani throws caution to the wind, and forgets everything but him for a moment, as she steps forward, over Bonnie's barrier, and tentatively encircles him in her arms. Klaus stiffens, unused to such warm touch.

"I am sorry for your loss,"

He could just as easily bite her or toss her out, because it is not something he should hear from someone protecting those responsible, but instead he lowers his heads until his brow hits her shoulder and stays there.

(If they later migrate to the couch and Stefani's desire to comfort the man she is quite certain she loves – because, unlike her sister, she is not fond of denial – exceeds cuddling and becomes a full-on make-out session, no one needs to know.)

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comments are appreciated.


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